Bhakti-yoga at Home

Good Mornings

By Rohiṅīnandana Dāsa

DEVOTEES TRY TO MOLD their lives around Kṛṣṅa. They know that when they begin to love Lord Kṛṣṅa, their hearts will bloom like flowers in the rising sun. So in the early-morning stillness, long before the postman comes, devotees are up, absorbed in spiritual practices.**

Picture the scene: Your five-year-old daughter blows the conch shell to signal the start of the ārati.** Family members quickly finish dressing or putting on tilaka** and race into the temple room.** Your seven-year-old son picks up the mṛdaṅga**—it’s his turn to lead the singing. Your daughter, ringing a bell in her left hand, be-gins to offer items to Kṛṣṅa with nervous concentration. Your baby moves his arms happily as you carry him in yours. Your spouse plays karatālas** and sways to and fro with the rhythm of the kīrtana.** Perhaps another family is visiting you. They join in and play instruments, clap, and dance. The tempo builds. Your small temple room begins to shake. A surprised postman glances in at the window.

Can We Do It?

You may be thinking of your own family and wondering,“Is a morning program like this possible for us?”

Changes are often difficult to make, you might think, especially one like this. Perhaps you feel pitted against inertia, your children’s reluctance, or your own lack of confidence. So start small, even if at first you’re alone trying to do something for Kṛṣṅa’s pleasure. Your decision is half the battle. At first you could simply offer a stick of incense and a flower to a picture** as you sit before it chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa. Then you could read a little from Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The whole affair may take only ten or fifteen minutes, but it’s a start.

Your family members may not show much interest at first, but they will sense your enthusiasm and commitment. You can let them know how important you feel Kṛṣṅa conscious-ness is, and how much it would mean to share a little daily Kṛṣṅa conscious time with them. Once they begin to try it, the difficulty and strangeness will soon be forgotten. Kṛṣṅa consciousness is natural and easy.

Gauge the length of the different aspects of your morning program by the enthusiasm of your children—if one day they aren’t enjoying the kīrtana, end it quickly. They’ll feel relief instead of pressure. Better things be short and sweet than drawn out and forced. You could break up a long Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam purport into small portions, or paraphrase difficult passages. Perhaps you could alternate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with days of reading Prabhupāda Nectar.** Anything to hold interest. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī prescribes, yena tena prakāreṅa manaḥ kṛṣṅe niveśayet: somehow or other fix your mind upon Kṛṣṅa.

Parents have a great challenge. Children have largely been liberated from the seen-and-not-heard ideology. They feel a much greater sense of equality with adults today and are less fearful and suppressed. The “nuclear family” has dispensed with many traditions in family interaction.

Now each family must establish its own mini-society. And parents must clearly know what they are doing, and why, especially in spiritual life. Force a child and you risk losing him later. Śrīla Prabhupāda often cautioned his disciples that the art of spiritual leadership means to evoke—not stifle or kill—a person’s inherent tendency to serve and love Lord Kṛṣṅa. So don’t sacrifice the essence for external ritual. If a child’s interest is awakened, if he’s having fun, external things like obedience and regulation will easily follow.

Visiting the Big Temple

Once you establish your small temple at home, a visit to the big one will become more significant. Your children will feel less like spectators and more like participants. If at home they are accustomed to play karatālas and mṛdaṅga, offer ārati, lead kīrtana, give class, chant japa,** and help pre-pare offerings of food for Kṛṣṅa, visiting a place where all these things go on in grand style will inspire them with fresh enthusiasm and ideas. Back home you may notice them singing a new tune or developing their method of offering ārati.

In other words, your children will see a pilgrimage to your local temple not as an outing only slightly different from a visit to a theater or circus, but as part of what’s already their way of life. The spiritual culture of Kṛṣṅa consciousness will be firmly rooted in their hearts. And not only will you feel satisfied to witness their spiritual growth, but you will be fulfilling your sacred duty as a parent—to give them the best start in life. As it is said, “Good beginnings make good endings.”

Rohiṅīnandana Dāsa lives in southern England with his wife and their three children.